Daily Archives: April 27, 2017

Advances in computer science and engineering mean that sex robots are no longer just science fiction. The first sex robots, with animatronic movement and artificial intelligence, are due to go on sale by the end of the year. Jenny Kleeman crosses continents to meet the men who are making sex robots, the customers who want to buy them, and the critics who say they are dangerous.

In a scathing report MPs found the Department for International Development’s funding of low-fee private schools in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo was “not serving the poorest and most marginalised children”.

The average ransomware attack yielded $1,077 last year, new research shows, representing a 266 percent spike from a year earlier. The reason for the landmark year for hackers? Many ransomware victims readily pay the price. The number of attacks, varieties of distinct malware and money lost ballooned as ransomware became one of the top tactics of attackers, according to new research from the security firm Symantec. Some of the most high-profile ransomware incidents of the last year include San Francisco’s Muni getting hit, Washington D.C.’s police department being breached just before inauguration and a Los Angeles college paying a $28,000 ransom. Hoping to turn the tide against the billion-dollar ransomware industry, last year the FBI urged businesses to alert authorities and not pay up. Instead, most keep attacks a secret, paying off hackers 70 percent of the time. That behavior only increases the sweet spot for demands, as criminals seek the highest possible ransom while trying to …

A man has died after an explosion at a home in north London followed a stand-off with bailiffs and police. Wilton Stirling, 56, died in hospital four days after suffering serious burns in the explosion at the town house in Finsbury Park. More than 70 firefighters were called to the property on Stapleton Hall Road as huge flames ripped through the building last Wednesday, and neighbouring houses were evacuated.

THE favourite pastime of England’s media establishment – stitching up Jeremy Corbyn – is now, it seems, an intrinsic part of its General Election coverage. Often it is invisible to the naked eye or initially inaudible. On BBC’s Breakfast Time yesterday I had to deploy the rewind function to reassure myself my imagination wasn’t playing tricks. But no, there it was: subtle, semi-subliminal and insidious. In an item about Labour unveiling its plans for Brexit, the introduction included this little missile: “So far, Labour’s struggled to present its own clear message for Brexit.” It was followed a few seconds later by: “Now the party’s shadow Brexit secretary will attempt to clarify their position.”